Students Earn Top Honors for Powerful Alcohol Prevention Messages

Posted On May 19, 2026

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Students from Richard Montgomery High School and Herbert Hoover Middle School earned top honors in this year’s Keeping it Safe (KIS) Student Video Contest. The annual contest encourages teams to create 30-second public service announcements educating young people about the risks of under-21 alcohol use. Winning schools receive cash prizes to support student activities and programs.

Students from Wheaton and Col. Zadok Magruder high schools won the inaugural Sober Vibes Essay Contest, which asked students to write persuasive letters encouraging peers to avoid alcohol before, during and after prom.

The Keeping It Safe coalition is an independent countywide partnership focused on preventing underage alcohol use by reducing access to alcohol, limiting youth exposure and promoting community responsibility.

The full list of contest winners is:

High School Division

First Place: William Baranick and Gabriel Lange, Richard Montgomery High School

Second Place: Aron Matsuyama, Jessica Tang and Amy Chen, Winston Churchill High School

Third Place: Zixuan Wang, Walt Whitman High School

Honorable Mention: Tihun Oler, Northwest High School

Middle School Division

First Place: Isis Li, Herbert Hoover Middle School

Second: Eva Pandey and Charlotte Kline, John Poole Middle School

Third Place: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School

(Contest winner is represented by school affiliation only due to privacy preferences.)

Honorable Mention: Thomas Rudmann and Brian Healy, Shady Grove Middle School